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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 4816952" data-attributes="member: 14159">Point of Order:AD&amp;D did have level limits.&nbsp; Monk and Assassin did cap out in the teens.&nbsp; Giving all classes in the game the ability to progress to 20th level was promoted as one of the selling points of 2e AD&amp;D by its marketing materials at the time.The High Level Campaigns book for 2e put a hard cap on all mortal character progression at 30th level.&nbsp; Offhand I don't know of any 2e NPCs that exceeded 30th level.&nbsp; Now, speaking in terms of the Forgotten Realms, which is the setting I know the best. . .2e Elminster was a 29th level mage, The Symbul was 30th level as a mage, Halaster Blackcloak was a 30th level mage, Szass Tam was a 29th level Necromancer.&nbsp; The only place generally in 2e books that any rules were even published for over 30th level was in the Faiths &amp; Avatars series as rules for deities which seemed to be able to go up to 40th level.&nbsp; Among others, Lolth's Avatar was given as a Cleric 33/Mage 31/Fighter 20, Corellon Larethian's Avatar was a Fighter 36/Mage 35/Bard 29/Cleric 25.&nbsp; The only two Avatars I know of that even made it to 40th level were Mystra's Avatar which was a Cleric 40/Wizard 40 and Chauntea's Avatar which was a Druid 40/Cleric 20, and those were for the two most powerful deities in the Realms.There was the Netheril: Empire of Magic box set which did have rules for PC spellcasters up to 45th level, but that was specifically for a pseudo-1e retro campaign in 2e set a few millennia before the Time of Troubles and thus technically still in 1e (complete with notes on how to retrofit 2e to be more like 1e), they had two NPC's that made it to 41st level, Ioulaum and Karsus.&nbsp; Given what Karsus did when he hit 41st level (and that Ioulaum vanished without a trace when he hit that level), I could almost see the 30th level cap being put in as some kind of divine barrier to mortal progression put in to prevent pesky mortals from almost breaking all of reality and a 40th level cap on Gods Themselves as put there by Ao as a way of ensuring that nothing like that would ever happen again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 4816952, member: 14159"] Point of Order: AD&D did have level limits. Monk and Assassin did cap out in the teens. Giving all classes in the game the ability to progress to 20th level was promoted as one of the selling points of 2e AD&D by its marketing materials at the time. The High Level Campaigns book for 2e put a hard cap on all mortal character progression at 30th level. Offhand I don't know of any 2e NPCs that exceeded 30th level. Now, speaking in terms of the Forgotten Realms, which is the setting I know the best. . . 2e Elminster was a 29th level mage, The Symbul was 30th level as a mage, Halaster Blackcloak was a 30th level mage, Szass Tam was a 29th level Necromancer. The only place generally in 2e books that any rules were even published for over 30th level was in the Faiths & Avatars series as rules for deities which seemed to be able to go up to 40th level. Among others, Lolth's Avatar was given as a Cleric 33/Mage 31/Fighter 20, Corellon Larethian's Avatar was a Fighter 36/Mage 35/Bard 29/Cleric 25. The only two Avatars I know of that even made it to 40th level were Mystra's Avatar which was a Cleric 40/Wizard 40 and Chauntea's Avatar which was a Druid 40/Cleric 20, and those were for the two most powerful deities in the Realms. There was the Netheril: Empire of Magic box set which did have rules for PC spellcasters up to 45th level, but that was specifically for a pseudo-1e retro campaign in 2e set a few millennia before the Time of Troubles and thus technically still in 1e (complete with notes on how to retrofit 2e to be more like 1e), they had two NPC's that made it to 41st level, Ioulaum and Karsus. Given what Karsus did when he hit 41st level (and that Ioulaum vanished without a trace when he hit that level), I could almost see the 30th level cap being put in as some kind of divine barrier to mortal progression put in to prevent pesky mortals from almost breaking all of reality and a 40th level cap on Gods Themselves as put there by Ao as a way of ensuring that nothing like that would ever happen again. [/QUOTE]

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